Thursday, March 7, 2013

Krak-KOOM! (Perfect panel #12)

Ultimates The panel where Thor is in the motherlovin’ house By Millar and Hitch

The things I always love most about the Millar/Hitch Ultimates comics are the haircuts – I genuinely think it’s the first superhero comic with great hair of the 21st century – but there isn’t one single panel that sums all that up. It’s more of a cumulative thing.

But the second best thing in their Ultimates run is this moment, when Thor shows up in New York to beat the living snot out of a rampaging Hulk. It’s a moment that’s been done dozens of times in Marvel comics, but never with this much power.
It’s so powerful, that even though there are no sounds effects in this panel, I still hear a little ‘Krak-KOOM’ in my head every time I read it.

The massive lightening bolts, used to signify the arrival of a Real Power in the world, sinking down between the ultra-familiar Manhattan skyline.
Ultimates was superbly paced, and Thor’s arrival comes at just the right moment in the story, taking things up a level, while keeping a foot in the real world.

Thor has the best hair in comics, and knows how to make an entrance. Gods damn.